In Common
by Kilarra
Summary: Raven's always been the strong one, rational and detached, but after Malchior, well, things don't seem to make sense anymore. There is one person who understands, but will her pride allow him to help?


**Author's Note: Hey Peeps! Long time no see n'est pas? A bit on the angsty side as I am told, but decent none the less. And there is a bit of fluff on the end! Qu'est que vous pensez? ****Lets have a big round of applause and manny virtual cookies and offerings to the fabulousness of my new beta reader, Jocelyn Torrent!! For all my Siren's people, I know it's not the next chapter, but that is upcoming and you might as well enjoy this while you wait. hides in corner Don't kill me, please. For my legendary list of excuses as to why I haven't published lately, please wait for the next installment of ****Siren's Call****! And now, on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: You'd think that with all this time I would have come up with a new and original way to tell you I don't own anything. But no, IB's eating my brain, I'm slowly loosing all creativity. For irony of IB, Google CAS requirements. Ya! Kilarra out.**

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Idiot. An utterly foolish and senseless person. A foolish or stupid person. A person of subnormal intelligence. One affected with idiocy. Idiote. Der lidiot. Idiota. Ostoba. Ahmak. Bedak. Blockhead. Dunce. Imbecile. Nitwit. Moron. Whatever way you put it, she was one. Stupid. Lacking ordinary quickness or keenness of mind. Dull. Slow to learn or understand. Obtuse. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. Absence of intellectual accuracy. A person who is not very bright. In a state of mental numbness. Stupide. Dumm. Stupido. Aptal. Neumen. Enfaldig. However you said it, she was that too. After all, any person with half a brain could have seen through his ruse, could have stopped him before he started, could have known what he was planning. The most random person picked off the streets of Jump could have sat down and thought rationally about the situation for two minutes and come to the perfectly logical conclusion that he was not being what one might call completely honest. Any moron could have listened to him and know that he wanted more from her than unconditional love and eternal affection. But not her, nope. She was an idiot. A stupid, brainless, dense, dimwitted, foolish, irrational, irresponsible, oafish, senseless, torpid, vacuous, witless idiot.

Raven pushed her fingers through her violet hair, pressing her ice cold palms to her temples and gripping her skull. The morning air was frigid and damp around her, slicing soundlessly through her cloak and skin to freeze her where she sat, the ocean air thick and moist on her face. The suns rays would not come to warm the land for another half-hour or so, the darkness of the night leaching as much warmth as it could before they hit. Glacial water licked her toes casually, advancing and receding in a rhythmic fashion. Every now and again, the wet breeze would ram her like a thousand icy whips, stinging every inch of her body for minutes until the next one hit. She was cold, wet, and miserable and nothing could make her move from her present position. Her team would think she was in her room, expect her on the roof, wonder if she was in the common room, but they wouldn't find her in any of those places. That's because she didn't want to be found. She wanted to shrivel up and die, berate herself for her stupidity, inflict as much bodily damage as she could without raising suspicion or causing noticeable harm. She wanted to suffer and so far, she was succeeding. So there she was, in the one place they would never suspect her of hiding, the one place on the entire island that only one person was even permitted to visit by the strict, unspoken rules of the Tower.

People all have their places, places they go when the experience certain emotional attacks. When frustrated, Robin went to his evidence room, Starfire went to her room, Cyborg went to the couch. Beast Boy went to the training room. Raven... Raven didn't get frustrated enough to warrant a specific place, but she could usually be found with Beast Boy, taking it out on him. When angry or afraid, Robin went to the training room, Starfire went to the roof, Cyborg went out. Beast Boy went to his room. Raven went to Nevermore. When depressed, Robin went to the training room to pretend he was angry, Starfire went to the kitchen, Cyborg went to the garage. Beast Boy came here and Raven... well, she supposed that since Beast Boy tended to leave this place feeling at least a little more stable than when he arrived, she should try it. Nothing had exploded outside of her room, so she supposed it was working. She didn't really know, she'd never been this depressed before.

Being the key to the world's destruction kept her at a fairly constant low to begin with, though her friends didn't know that. They thought she was just Raven, and Raven was just like that. In a way they were right, but that didn't mean that the knowledge didn't grate on the nerves every second of every day. Just because she was by nature a bit on the antisocial side of the spectrum didn't mean that it didn't kill her to look at the world, the little people going about their little lives, crying over their little problems and rejoicing over their little victories, and to know that she would end them all. The way she felt every time she did something good for the world, like some kind of perverse hypocrite, a fraud, a false hero promising safety and delivering destruction. Like she was just trying to fool herself into believing that she could somehow seek forgiveness before she sinned. Her friends had no idea that their laughter was like a stake through her chest, their happiness just a fleeting dream in her short, tragic tale; a dream she would die to preserve, a dream she would do anything to protect.

But things didn't work like that. You can't be absolved before you repent, can't repent before you sin. Can't make up for a crime you haven't committed yet, or feel bad for something you're going to do anyway. Can't protect something you're fated to destroy. She guessed that was one of the reasons she'd loved him so fast, so instantly. He'd offered her a way out, a power that could surpass even Trigon's will, magic that could defy destiny and reweave the tapestry of her life. He could teach her everything she needed to know and more to free him and understand the very nature of her demonic powers, then stand by her and help her as she saved the world from herself. An overly romanticized vision, unlikely at best, impossible in any kind of logical reality. Stupid and naive. But it had been her dream, _her _vision. What was wrong with wanting a peaceful world? Was it really so bad for her to desire the power to defy her blood? Clearly.

If that was the only reason she had fallen for him, Raven might not have felt quite as foul, at least, that's what she told herself. Unfortunately, there was a bigger reason for her fall. As a person, she was a reject, as a demon she was a failure, as a Titan... She'd thought she'd found that special spot, that place in life where she truly belonged, those people she was meant to be with. There was nothing wrong with the hypothesis, they were all freaks and misfits just like herself, alone and afraid and pathetic, so why shouldn't they be together? Weirdoes of Jump unite, right? And they did belong together; she just couldn't be a part of they. When they'd first met all those years ago, she'd thought they were just like her in every aspect, a shallow, childish observation, but a comforting one. In retrospect it was a rather ignorant, misconceived notion; she was the spawn of an evil demon lord intent on destroying the world, a mystical gem that would release Trigon the Terrible back into the mortal realm, a shy, frightened, angry girl with telepathic and telekinetic abilities and oh, did she mention she had a nasty tendency of blowing things up whenever she felt too much? They were like her in the sense that they were oddballs, but other than that, she was just an outsider living under the same roof. Alone. Unable and unwilling to become like them, she didn't want to be left in the dark either.

So she submerged herself in stories, places and people too wonderful and terrible to actually exist, events that pushed her blood faster and faster, emotions that warmed her chilled heart, relationships she ached to have but knew she would forever be denied. Yes, in books she found the life she wanted to live, the friends she yearned for, the other self she longed to be. And when she wasn't in the worlds of mystery, she was digging, searching for a way to bring those worlds to her physical body, trying to preserve the Earth and learn what secrets her own mind kept from her, or just being in this realm, savoring it without ever joining it. Her friends could never understand why she denied herself the joy of acting normal, of interacting with the world they protected. Then again, they didn't understand a lot of things. It scared her, the whirlwind of wild emotions, the casual exchange of heartfelt words, the forming of deeply felt bonds that would be shattered or forgotten within hours, the drain of having so many minds close, the wall that just naturally fell between her and the rest of the world, the aura that repelled normal people from her and drew an array of curious characters towards her to stare and point for a bit before they too left. She had tried many times before to fit into this strange world of the normal, tried, and failed each time. And that made her creepy, which left her just where she had started, alone.

And that's where he had found her, where she always was, in her room, alone, submerged in another place and time, one where people like her were the good guys and could be loved. She was weak, vulnerable, hurt, and he had taken advantage of that. But did she see that? Nooooo. He had come into her life, the hero of her story, a champion of love and justice who, for all intents and purposes, was attracted to her. He had been waiting for her for a thousand years, he needed her, he thought she was smart and beautiful and everything he had ever wanted in a woman. The best thing that had happened to him in a thousand years. His humor was rather biting and sarcastic, he wanted to talk to her, and he never mentioned anything about wanting to get in bed with her. Raven fell head over heals in a mater of hours, and she had liked it. She had been… happy. That wasn't something she felt often, as a matter of fact, she could probably have counted the number of times she had been truly happy on one hand. And out of those times, there wasn't one that could really compare to the bliss she'd felt with him. She liked that, she missed that.

Raven tugged at her hair in disgust, yanking it forward into her face and thrusting her hands into they icy water. That was no excuse, none of it was. He was an evil dragon bent on destroying the world, much like her father. Cold, heartless, manipulative, and evil. Not someone she had ever wanted to even know, much less become involved with. She hissed as the daggers of cold began to press into her fingers, pulling her hands from their grasp angrily. The sea wind blew, worsening the pain as she stared at her pale skin. Had she been thinking rationally, she would have killed him on site, ended that malignance and saved herself and many others a whole lot of pain. But no, she had been infatuated with him. Raven stretched her numb hands out over the waves, a black aura surrounding them ominously. He was, is, and will always be a black creature that had used her like a lock pick then tossed her to the shadows. He never cared and never would care. It was beyond him. Darkness pulled the ocean water up, creating a short pillar beneath her palms. Water dripped from her fingertips, sending ripples across the glassy surface. Had she noticed that little character trait? Had she done anything to protect the world from him? Her fingers tensed, looking more like claws than human hands, her eyes blazing with black fire. No, she believed every venom coated word that had fallen from his lips, let him train her, touch her, fill her head with sweet lies. He had whispered a few gentile nothings into her ears, held her hand affectionately, made her feel like she wasn't alone, like she was needed and wanted, and she had released one of the greatest evils known to time to pray on Jump, the continent, the world. He had manipulated her and she had followed his instructions to the letter. Malchior had filled her with dark magic that yearned for nothing but destruction and she had loved him. And he had made her look like a fool. Raven slashed the air mercilessly, slicing her water pillar into sharp ribbons and sending them across the horizon savagely.

"Maybe now's a bad time." She froze, furious with herself and embarrassed at being found in such a state. By the fifth to last person she wanted to see, none the less.

"Yes Beast Boy, now is a very bad time." Her voice was sharp, irritated, dangerous. Beast Boy didn't seem to notice. Either that or he was just being his usual persistent self and refusing to acknowledge the hint.

"I figured it would be," he said casually, as if he was commenting on the weather. "But I thought, judging by the state of your room, you'd like to talk."

"You went into my room," she asked critically, sending him a sharp look over her shoulder. He was standing about ten feet behind her and up the slope. His hands were limp at his sides, his hair dancing in the breeze, his face soft.

"I was worried about you," he shrugged, still not approaching her. His green eyes seemed to glow like jewels in the predawn gloom, his skin almost luminous. Her own skin was like moonlight, her amethyst eyes bright. The world around them was silent, not even the waves making an attempt to disturb the stillness. Just him and her. It was surreal. Raven frowned, her anger cooling but her frustration escalating in conjunction with the amount of time she met his calm gaze. Did he not know how close he was to death?

"Worried about me," she repeated skeptically, staring forward again apathetically. What was there to be worried about? She was only going through the second most traumatic event of her life (The first being when she found out she was going to destroy the world. That was definitely a low point.).

"Yes, worried about you. Is that so hard to believe?" He had advanced a few steps, his voice insanely light. "Just 'cause I'm a guy doesn't mean I'm completely clueless."

"No, but the fact that you're Beast Boy does." He grinned, chuckling softly. Why did she feel like this? What was it about Beast Boy that made her think she could keep going? How was it that she had been wallowing in misery not five minutes before and now she was cracking jokes? What was so damn special about the changeling that he could do this to her with next to no effort, just by showing up?

"Touché, Rae. Hey, that rhymes!" A joke; how typically Beast Boy, annoyingly trying to lighten the mood. Yet there was something in his voice, or maybe it was her unstable condition, but the corners of her mouth twitched. Beast Boy didn't miss it either. His face split into his wide, goofy smile and he advanced even further until he was just a few steps behind her. She could feel him on her back, like a ray of warm sunlight. But she didn't want that, she didn't want comfort. Raven wanted to be miserable, she wanted to suffer. Unfortunately, no matter how many bad vibes she sent out, there was no getting Beast Boy to leave. As if she could do that on a good day. She sighed, defeated.

"How did you even find me?"

"Rae, you may have picked a… unexpected hiding place. But if you really wanted to get away from me, then you should have changed your shampoo or burn some different incense or whatever you do… or actually have worn some perfume. 'Cause the truth is, I can smell you from half a mile away in my sleep." Raven nodded numbly

"I should have known." They stayed like that for a moment, silent, somewhere between relaxed and tense.

"I know why you came here," he said suddenly, softly, but she jerked nonetheless. "It's soothing out here, quiet, like you're the only one in the world. It's a good place to hurt."

"And what would you know about-"

"Hurting? Raven, remember who you're talking to." His voice had slipped into a whisper, a soft, pained whisper. He sat down next to her on the rocks, a little closer than she would have liked but still reasonably far away. "You have pretty feet," he commented absently, staring into the water at her frozen toes. She pulled her legs up to her body, wrapping her cloak about herself tightly, concealing them from view.

"Come to have a laugh," she asked bitingly. Beast Boy looked shocked by the accusation, meeting her criticizing gaze for half a second before his eyes moved back to the water. "Or are you going to try and play shrink?"

"I told you, I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk."

"And you actually thought I would believe that? You're more gullible than I thought."

"Funny coming from you." Several of the loose rocks around them began to levitate threateningly. He glanced at them quickly, the look of someone who wants to whack himself in the head glinting in his eyes. "Look, Raven, I didn't come here to berate you."

"Big word," she muttered bitingly.

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing all right," he continued, ignoring her as maturely as he could manage… meaning he made a bit of a pouty face, pushing his lips off to the left and pulling his eyebrows down, hunching his shoulders.

"I'm fine. Now leave."

"Rae-"

"Leave!" The rocks began to spin and crackle.

"God Raven, why do you have to be so difficult! You're not the only one who's been through this you know!" Silence. Beast Boy shifted uncomfortably, squatting and folding his arms on top of his knees, his eyes forward. "She could have killed you. She could have killed all of us." The rocks fell.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven evaded, her voice flat.

"You know full well what I'm talking about!" His voice was sharp, hurt, angry, all the things she should have expected. "You always know." But Raven didn't want to talk about this. She wanted him gone; she wanted the whole world gone.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of compliment?"

"Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you." It was Raven's turn to pout… well, her version of pouting. She scowled, pointedly looking the other way to indicate that she was done talking. Beast Boy snorted, staring at the back of her head hard. "You know as well as I do that we have this in common."

"You have no idea what I'm going through," she snapped, her eyes smoldering.

"No idea," he repeated, fuming. "No idea. That's right, I only fell in love with Terra. You remember her, right? Golden hair, sapphire eyes, kind of skinny, 5'5" or so, Teen Titan, Slade's apprentice, stabbed us in the back. Yes, you are completely correct; I wouldn't have the slightest clue what it feels like to trust some one so completely, you would do anything they asked. How would I know what it's like to have that same person betray you? After all, Terra only sold us out to the biggest bad guy in Jump, took over the city, and tried to kill us, twice!"

"I didn't know you knew how to be sarcastic. Beast Boy, I'm proud of you."

"I'm just overflowing with surprises."

"This isn't the same."

"Isn't it?" She was silent. His anger faded, his own emotions resurfacing. "You hate him don't you? For hurting you. You feel sick, like you're going to throw up at any second. Your chest feels like it's gonna collapse and your throat in so constricted you can barely breath. But you still can't admit that you just want to curl up and cry."

"I don't cry."

"You are eating even less than before, you don't sleep, nothing makes you happy any more, not even reading or horror movies or hitting me. As a matter of fact, you don't even hit me any more. Whenever I try to annoy you, you just walk away."

"I just haven't been in the mood."

"And you hate yourself, for letting him fool you so easily, for putting your friends in danger. At the time, it had seemed so natural, but now that you think about it, you know you should have seen it coming. You should have seen that the signs were right in front of your nose, that he all but told you what his objective was. That there were things you could have done to stop him, that you could have and should have warned us about him even though you really didn't see what he was planning. You hate that, no matter how hard you try, you can't remember being that happy before he came into your life and now that he's gone... you don't know if you'll ever know that kind of joy again. But most of all, no matter how manny people or books tell you that it's perfectly normal to be in pain, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it's natural, you hate how weak you feel, how pathetic you've allowed yourself to become."

"You've proved your point." A hint for him to stop talking. She would suffer his presence, nothing else.

"What's that?" He was either playing the idiot again, which was quite likely, or really was that dense.

"That you know how... never mind! You can stop talking now."

"Raven, I-"

"Now! Or, Azar help me, I will..." She wasn't sure what she'd do, but it would be nasty. Raven turned sharply, intent on frightening him off with just one vicious glance like she was so good at. Then she met his gaze, and melted. His emerald eyes were shining compassionately, empathetically, innocently, his intent written in the predawn light, his soul bare before her. He didn't flinch, his face relaxed into a blank, sculpted mask. "What do you want," she said quietly, yielding.

"I thought we went over this."

"There's more to it. Tell me." It was a request, not a threat, not a demand. Her amythist eyes wondered uncertainly, as if she was already doubting her decision to allow him any closer. He moved in tentatively, carefully selecting each word.

"Raven, you have feelings just like the rest of us. I know you don't like to admit it, that you will deny it till the day you die, but you feel and you bleed. I want to help."

"You can't."

"I know." She glanced up breifly, rather surprised to be honest. "Don't look so shocked, I've been through this, remember."

"So why did you bother coming out here," she asked, genuinely perplexed. Even Beast Boy didn't do things without any reason. Granted, his reasons were usually frivilous or flat out childish, but he always had reasons. It was quite unlike him to waste his time in this manner. He looked confused by her question.

"I guess you don't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing." Raven just frowned, not feeling like wasting energy on an actual reply. He grinned encouragingly, his eyes soft as he reached over to grasp her hand. She flinched away, pulling her limbs closer to her body protectively. Beast Boy frowned, scolding himself silently. "I'm sorry, I... forgot." Raven snorted quietly. They sat in a tense silence for a moment, watching the waves glisten in the darkening dawn. "Well... you want to be alone. I'll just... go," Beast Boy muttered humbly, pushing himself up. Ravens hand shot out before she even realized he had moved, grasping his arm firmly.

"Why did you come out here? Why did you want to talk to me? If you know you can't help me, then why try? What is it that you wanted to acomplish?" Beast Boy looked at her, an emotion that she couldn't identify on his face. Slowly, as if she were a some sort of wounded tiger that might attack him if he moved to quickly or got to close or said something she didn't want to hear, he sat down again. She watched him intently, not quite sure if she should feel sympathetic, enraged, or just lost. He took a deep breath, looked her full in the eye, and said about the last thing she was expecting to hear.

"I'm here because I know that there is nothing I can do to make it better, because I know that you're hurting like you've never hurt before and that it's not going away. I'm here because I know you don't have any idea where to go from here or how to fix yourself and because..." He stopped, avoiding her gaze. She gripped his arm, refusing to show any sign of yielding until he answered her question. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be this hard, and I know it's none of my business."

"You're right about that," she scolded, her eyes hard.

"But I... don't like seeing you like this. It hurts to see you in so much pain and know I can't do a thing about it." Blind sided once more. Raven dropped her hand, starring at him as if he had just turned yellow and started doing Thriller.

"What? Beast Boy, what are you trying to say here?"

"You're not alone Raven."

"Yeah, you said that before."

"No, I mean, you're really not alone. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you're not. He's not the only one out there." Nerve.

"Stop it Beast Boy. Don't say another word."

"There are others who can and will love you, others who do love you."

"Stop it now, you don't know what you're talking about."

"And maybe, with time, you can love them too. Malchior doesn't have to be the only one-" Raven pulled back her hand and slapped him as hard as she could. Granted, they were right next to each other, so the angle was bad and it didn't do much damage, but her point was made.

"Don't you ever say his name again," she said coldly. "How would you know? What are you, some kind of God? Is there someone I don't know about who's in love with _you_ now? Did you find some kind of little Terra clone to sleep with and tell you she loves you to make you feel better? Are you really so delusional that you think you're ever going to feel the same way again?" He didn't react, he didn't even move. It was a very low blow and she almost regretted it, but he didn't seem to care. "How dare you. What are you even suggesting? That I go out and and let someone else get that close to me? Yes, I could do that, but you know what will happen. They'll betray me, betray us and I'll be right back here. You want me to find someone to replace him? I wish I'd never met him! Things were better before this, before I knew-"

"Before you knew what love was? Come on Raven, I know better." She almost slapped him again, but there was something, some kind of hurt in his voice that hadn't been there before, that made her pause. "I'd never seen you so happy before. All those times when I saw you together and you were smiling... I was so jealous that he could make you laugh so easily while, despite my best attempts, I could hardly manage to get so much as a smirk out of you. It was all so new to you, so strange and unexplored and you may regret it now, but think about who you were before him."

"We're done now," she said flatly, crossing her arms and beginning to get up. She couldn't take this, she had to be alone.

"No we're not Rae, listen to me," he begged grabbing her arm.

"Don't touch me!"

"You only hate it because you don't think you'll ever stop hurting, because you don't think the pain will ever go away and allow you to be glad for the time you had with him."

"That's because it won't."

"It will if you let it. But you, you're holding onto the pain, trying to punish yourself for things that aren't your fault!"

"Yes they are! I let him out, I put the world at risk!"

"So what?! I convinced everyone to let Terra on the Team, I trusted her and left you at her mercy. And even after that, I still couldn't fight her until after she had all but killed us! Yes, you let him trick you, but at least you stopped him before he could do any real damage. You have to let go of your guilt or everything you've said will be true."

"So what? That's what I deserve."

"Raven, if you don't let this go, it will never leave. It will always be there and you'll never move on. Your life will stop here and the only way it can ever start moving again is if a miracle happens."

"What would you know about that?"

"We all have our secrets Raven. There are things you're not comfortable telling us and things I'm not ready to tell you." She couldn't find anything to say to that. How was she supposed to make this about him when she herself had the biggest secret known to mankind. How could she call him an hypocrite for asking her to do what he couldn't when that claim would make her little better than him. His hand rested lightly on her elbow, his emerald eyes holding hers softly, pleadingly. "I don't want that for you."

"What is it you want me to do? Do you even know what you're asking?"

"I know, and I know it's hard. But you're strong Raven, stronger then I could ever hope to be. You can do it."

"How?" Her voice dropped to almost a whisper, her walls and sarcasm and anger falling away so he could see just what it was she was denying. What he was asking was impossible. She may burry her emotions, but she could no more make them disappear then he could. And unless there was something she hadn't tried yet, and she had tried lots of things, this entire discussion was pointless.

"Cry." One word, one thought, one thing she had never considered.

"I told you, I don't cry."

"You make things so much more complicated then they are. This is what it all comes down to: you loved him and he broke your heart. You think you're feeling so many different things, but it's only grief. You have to let yourself grieve Raven, or this will be you for forever, bitter and alone." Alone... she didn't want to be alone. Some people think they do, and sometimes some people need to, but no one wanted to. Tears began to form in he eyes,unbidden and unwanted. She brushed them away violently, turning away from him. It was alright for anyone else to cry, that was perfectly natural, but she couldn't. She couldn't expose herself like that to the stillness of her own room, let alone in front of another person. Yet here was Beast Boy, telling her to just let the tears flow. And she could find little reason why not to. She sniffed, rubbing her nose and coughing as if she had a cold. The air was icy, the world blacker than midnight, the stars dead and the moon invisible. Soon the sun would burst from the horizon, banishing yesterday forever and promising another tomorrow. Beast Boy's hand was gone, but she could still feel his warmth, a comforting presence next to her, warm and unwavering, there to see he through the dark. More tears braved the went channels down her smooth cheeks and she brushed these away too, trying to blink away the rest that were now swelling to the surface. There was something cool and wet on the back of her hand, unexpected and strangely foreign. At her side sat a emerald green wolf with thick, bushy fur and white eyes. He cocked his head to the right, then nuzzled her hand once more, his soft, warm tongue licking the salty liquid from her fingertips.

_'It's OK Raven,' _ breathed a warm voice in her mind. _'You don't have to be scared, I won't tell. Nothing will change between us unless you wan it to. I'm here, it will be alright.' _ Raven sniffed again, blinking back the wetness in her eyes and shifting to face the wolf. _'It's not weakness, it's human.'_ She bit her lip hard, pressing the blood from it as she met his steady gaze. He didn't move didn't blink, just sat by her, urging her silently to just let herself feel, to stop being a half-deamon superhero and allow the heartbroken teenage girl to surface, if only for a moment. He was there for her, but in a way she could accept. Maybe she wasn't ready to forgive herself for what she'd done, or let another human see her for what she was, or let the world know that she wasn't the cast iron witch she pretended to be. Maybe she wasn't ready for another person to fill the hole he'd left, or get up and continue living. But she could do this, and Beast Boy had shown her that.

"Garfield," she murmured. The wolf blinked, nodding in a very human way, almost as if he was smiling at her. She gasped and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms about his neck and burying her face into his rough fur, tears no longer obeying her or allowing themselves to be stalled by her will. They coursed freely down her face and the tangled green mass, dampening it. Her fingers knotted in his fur and her sobs shook her entire body. Beast Boy adjusted slightly, his front legs straddling her knees, his neck arched over her shoulder so his muzzle could press against her back. It was an odd sight, the cold telekinetic, her body trembling as she wept, grasping the green wolf as though her life depended on it while he held her inhumanly, giving her the comfort and support she would never find anywhere else. And behind them the dawn broke across the world, sealing the past and bringing the future.


End file.
